What is your guess for how many different individual items are on exhibition at the world’s only cryptozoology museum? (The answer is at the end.)

Hot on the heels of the Portland Phoenix’s “Best of 2010” readers’ awards for “Best Museum of Portland” and “Best Local Author,” for the International Cryptozoology Museum and Loren Coleman, there’s more good news.

The famed regional journal Yankee Magazine has given one of their Editor’s 2010 Choice Awards for the “Best of New England” to the International Cryptozoology Museum. The one for “Best Quirky Museum.” The definition of quirky is idiosyncratic, offbeat, eccentric, unusual, unconventional, unorthodox, and strange. We can live with that.

“Best Quirky Museum
THE INTERNATIONAL CRYPTOZOOLOGY M– USEUM, Portland [Maine]
An 8-foot-tall Bigfoot greets visitors at Loren Coleman’s museum. He’s a renowned expert in cryptozoology, the story of hidden animals, such as the Loch Ness Monster and the Abominable Snowman.”

Unfortunately, Yankee got the information on how to find the museum badly mangled and incorrect. They list an old disconnected phone number, no hours, and no physical location.

For starters, our new, public museum number is 207-518-9496.

We have a physical, public address, at 661 Congress Street, Portland, Maine 04101. Drive one block down from the Portland Museum of Art, and you’ll find the cryptozoology museum on the right, sharing space with Michelle Souliere’s Green Hand Books, next to Joe’s Smoke Shop. Since we are the only location in Portland, Maine (or for that matter New England), with a Bigfoot in the front window, it is hard to miss and most people can point you in the right direction.

We were “by appointment only” for six years, but have not been since we opened publicly on November 1, 2009. Hours are Wednesdays-Saturdays, 11 am until the last tour begins at 5:30 pm, ending with closing at 6 pm (only if a tour is ongoing, closing will be at 5:30 pm, if no one is touring). On Sundays, we are open from noon to last tour at 4:30 pm, only closing as late as 5 pm, if a tour is in progress. The museum is closed on Mondays and Tuesdays.

Admission is five dollars per person, no matter what your age (unless you are a baby in arms). The admission includes an overview tour, your questions answered by docents and/or Loren Coleman, and unlimited photography of the eight-foot-tall Bigfoot up front. We allow limited photography of the museum exhibitions for personal, class report, Facebook, and research utilization.

What’s new in the museum? Every day is different. The exhibition had a major revision, and changing of exhibits on the weekend of May 8-9, 2010.

ICM Chief Docent Coordinator Jeff Meuse stands next to the new Pangboche Yeti hand and skullcap replicas display just added to the collection. New larger museum cases dedicated to the Patterson-Gimlin footage, the Minnesota Iceman, and Abominable Snowmen expeditions/Tom Slick’s explorations have been curated in the last ten days.

An actual count by docent Erin Ellis, conducted on May 14th, 2010, found the International Cryptozoology Museum contains 1,111 individual items on exhibition on that date. But don’t blink. Exactly 107 items, in a new Pleistocene animal display curated by docent Sarah McCann, were added the next day, on May 15th.

This is a grand total of 1,218 items on display as of May 16, 2010. {As a giant footnote, Matt Bille’s appreciated remarks about this award – here – reminds me that this number equals what is on exhibit. The museum also includes my 40,000 volume library, over 350 boxes of archives and files, and material that is received daily from collections that would otherwise, in the past, have gone into dumpsters. The history of cryptozoology is valuable to preserve, and people are beginning to realize this fact.}

Past visitors always find new items to view, as we change, add to, and revise our contents frequently, for cryptozoology is an active, alive, and dynamic field.

Our appreciation to Yankee Magazine for their recognition of our unique position in the grand scheme of things.

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Support cryptozoology locally, think cryptids globally!

[Sorry to include this again, but so many people make the mistake, it briefly needs to be mentioned. Please use the “Donate” button right above here, if you wish to give to the museum. The brown button in the upper right hand corner goes directly and only to Cryptomundo, which is owned by Craig Woolheater. The unfortunate rumor that CM has been, was, or is owned by Loren Coleman is incorrect. Never was so and isn’t now. Thank you.]

If you would like to support the International Cryptozoology Museum, you should know that your donations go directly to our operating costs. Contributions of funding, new display items, and time as a volunteer are always appreciated, whether you are local or part of the greater global cryptozoology community in which we exist.

The ICM is a dedicated member of Portland, Maine’s Arts District, and we encourage the patronizing of our neighborhood businesses, as we see the area changing into a center for creative thought, adventure, and exploration.

Deep appreciation to you!

About Loren ColemanLoren Coleman is one of the world’s leading cryptozoologists, some say “the” leading living cryptozoologist. Certainly, he is acknowledged as the current living American researcher and writer who has most popularized cryptozoology in the late 20th and early 21st centuries.
Starting his fieldwork and investigations in 1960, after traveling and trekking extensively in pursuit of cryptozoological mysteries, Coleman began writing to share his experiences in 1969. An honorary member of Ivan T. Sanderson’s Society for the Investigation of the Unexplained in the 1970s, Coleman has been bestowed with similar honorary memberships of the North Idaho College Cryptozoology Club in 1983, and in subsequent years, that of the British Columbia Scientific Cryptozoology Club, CryptoSafari International, and other international organizations. He was also a Life Member and Benefactor of the International Society of Cryptozoology (now-defunct).
Loren Coleman’s daily blog, as a member of the Cryptomundo Team, served as an ongoing avenue of communication for the ever-growing body of cryptozoo news from 2005 through 2013. He returned as an infrequent contributor beginning Halloween week of 2015.
Coleman is the founder in 2003, and current director of the International Cryptozoology Museum in Portland, Maine.

4 Responses to “Yankee Magazine Editors: “Best Quirky Museum””

Congratulations on this latest acknowledgement. As for my initial guess I very surprised when I found out this museum had over 1000 items, a testament to its wide outreach perhaps, but as my initial guess was 100 (factoring in giant fossils), the statistics at the end left me wondering, how many countries in total are represented (by items) in the museum?

Let’s see, I am not going to have the volunteer recount the items by country, as merely to count the items, in general, took over two hours. There is a long-term docent project to create a museum catalogue, but, of course, the ever-changing nature of the collection will have to be taken into consideration. Still, a good accounting of the national origins of each item will issue directly from that project.

Of course, there is a reason that the museum is called “international,” for the reach of the collection goes far beyond the USA and Canada. Looking around, I quickly see items from the Comores, Japan, Nepal, Tibet, Germany, France, Australia, South Africa, Indonesia, Scotland, Siberia, Russia, Britain, Mexico, Puerto Rico, Congo Republic, South Korea and more. Other countries in Africa and South America are also represented, but we are going to carefully sort out the proper credit to which one of those soon.